Capital markets and financial institutions are all around us. This is an enormous industry in which powerful players oftentimes challenge investors and the public at large and expose them to significant risks.
This Course provides for the deep understanding of the core ideas, concepts, and mechanisms of the modern capital market in a learner-friendly way. We will analyze the market’s most fundamental problems, realize the intrinsic interests of the market participants, reveal the true meaning of certain financial terms, and uncover credible signals of the likely behavior of economic agents – all that with little math and a lot of fun.
The learners will be much better positioned with respect to the financial environment. They will see through the financial news, reveal the risks of the financiers’ wishful thinking promises, and protect themselves against dangerous adventures. The learners will get the opportunity to use the obtained knowledge, skills, and understanding for the successful professional career in the financial and other business areas, as well as in their day-to-day life.

In Week 2 we will consider certain ways of overcoming problems caused by private information and evaluate them. We will know why some methods work while others don’t, and why. You will learn the core differences between equity and debt financing, study debts contracts with liquidation and see the core inefficiency of that kind of a debt contract.
Based on a simple model you will study diversification and delegated monitoring and see how they contribute to the efficiency of lending. We will find out how a bank emerges as a key financial intermediary responsible for asset monitoring. You will be able to see why the bank can make money and to calculate its profit in different cases. At the end of Week 2 we will pose a fundamental question: How does the bank attract depositors?